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- Shine on you crazy diamond: symbolism and social use of fluorite ornaments in Iberia’s late prehistoryPublication . Garrido-Cordero, José Ángel; Odriozola, Carlos; Sousa, Ana Catarina; Gonçalves, Victor S.; Cardoso, João LuísFluorite ornaments have been recorded in different sites of Europe since Upper Paleolithic. Due to its visual appearance and physical properties, some translucent or transparent mineralogies like fluorite were searched for or casually acquired by late prehistory’s human communities. After intensive research on archaeological contexts from the Iberian Peninsula with personal ornaments from 4th to 2nd millennia BCE, we have recently identified and characterized for the first time an important number of fluorite ornaments, confronting a previous background where little attention was paid. Our work has been carried out in different archaeological collections and museums from the whole Iberian Peninsula by non-destructive techniques (Raman spectroscopy, portable X-ray fluorescence (p-XRF) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD), that revealed the nature of fluorite ornaments and points to its consideration as scarce and highly symbolic items during late prehistory. A total of 36 fluorite beads from 23 sites are here recorded and studied, many of them inedits or wrong catalogued as other mineralogies. These adornments could have important roles in trade and use among the communities of Iberia from the 4th millennium BCE onwards, because of their scarcity and its recurrent association with important funerary complex and exotic materials. Fluorite ornaments could have been significant and special symbols in the development of new and exclusive raw materials in the context of increasing social complexity and inequality.
- Unraveling the genomes of ancient Iberian CanisPublication . Blaschikoff, Ludmilla; Serra, Octávio; Cardoso, João Luís; Fernández-Rodríguez, Carlos; Sousa, Ana Catarina; Moreno-García, Marta; Guimarães, Sílvia; Simões, Fernanda; Detry, Cleia; Gotherstrom, Anders; Ginja, Catarina; Pires, Anabela Elisabete
- O povoado do Carrascal (Oeiras): estudo das ocupações do Neolítico Final e do CalcolíticoPublication . Cardoso, João Luís; Sousa, Ana Catarina; André, Maria da ConceiçãoIn this article we present the Late Neolithic occupation of Carrascal’s settlement and discuss its functional feature. We conclude that it is a settlement with mixed carachteristics, corresponding to a specialized lithic workshop, located nearby the raw material resources, simultaneously with important evidence of semi-permanent, or even permanent, human occupation evidenced by the ceramics and polished stone industry.
- The curious case of the Mesolithic Iberian dogs: an archaeogenetic studyPublication . Pires, Ana Elisabete; Detry, Cleia; Chikhi, Lounes; Rasteiro, Rita; Amorim, Isabel R.; Simões, Fernanda; Matos, José; Petrucci-Fonseca, Francisco; Ollivier, Morgane; Hänni, Catherine; Cardoso, João Luís; Arias, Pablo; Diniz, Mariana; Araújo, Ana Cristina; Bicho, Nuno; Sousa, Ana Catarina; Moreno-García, Marta; Arruda, Ana Margarida; Fernández-Rodríguez, Carlos; Porfírio, Eduardo; Arnaud, José Morais; Valente, Alexandra; Gonçalves, David; Alves, Lara; Götherström, Anders; Davis, Simon J. M.; Ginja, CatarinaWe investigated the genetic, composition of six Canis remains from western Iberia, directly radiocarbon dated to 7,903-7,570 years (cal BP). They were identified as dogs via their qrchaeological and depositional context, osteometry, and a high percentage of aquatic diet shared with humans. For comparison, genetic data were obtained from an additional 37 Iberian dog remains from the Neolithic to Late Antiquity, as well as two Palaeolithic anda a Chalcolithic Canis identified as wolves. Previous data indicated that dog mtDNA haplogroup A (HgA) is prevalent in extant European dogs (>50%), in the Near East and Asia, but rare or absent (<10%) in European Canis older than 3,000 years (cal BP). We found a high frequency of dog HgA in pre-Neolithic Europe. We show that, contrary to the current view, Canis with HgA did not necessarily arrive in Europe from East-Asia. This phylogeographical difference in HgA frequency demonstrates that genetic differentiation was prior to, or as a consequence of, domestication which may be linked with pre-Neolithic local processes for Iberian wolf domestication. Our results emphasize that knowledge of both ancient wolves and early dogs genetic profiles from the European periphery should improve our understanding of the evolution of the European dog.
- Translucent beads, shinier worlds: a preliminary approach to fluorite beads from the Iberian PeninsulaPublication . Lloret, C. P. Odriozola; Cordero, J. A. Garrido; Sousa, Ana Catarina; Gonçalves, V. S.; Cardoso, João LuísPrehistoric ornaments are considered as aesthetic categories that show, emphasize and materialize codes, metaphors and narratives socially shared (Bar-Yosef Mayer and Porat 2008; DeMarrais et al. 1996; Hodder 1982; Tilley 1999; Wright and Garrard, 2003). Some values and properties as colour (Jones and MacGregor, 2002; Sahlins, 1976), but also brightness (Gaydarska y Chapman, 2008), have been highlighted as determinant of cultural/symbolic and technological choices in Prehistoric materiality, conditionating the raw material selection. Transparent and translucent minerals are considered for the Neolithic onwards as rare and highly symbolic elements. This paper shows that translucent beads accounts for an ample variety of raw material (i.e., calcite, muscovite, quartz varieties…). Fluorite (CaF2) occurs worldwide, and it´s relatively frequent in western Europe, and the Iberian Peninsula. Its properties (4 hardness in Mohs´ Scale) made it easy to worked out and cleavage for making ornaments. Some Belgium´s Upper Palaeolithic sites gave important evidences of its use (Goemaere et al., 2013; Jungels and Goemaere, 2007) and French and Belgian Neolithic and Copper Age communities used fluorite as a rare raw material for personal ornaments.
- Distribution and consumption of fluorite and translucent beads in the Iberian peninsula from 6th to 2nd millennia BCPublication . Garrido-Cordero, José Ángel; Odriozola, Carlos; Sousa, Ana Catarina; Gonçalves, Victor S.; Cardoso, João LuísTranslucent minerals were valued in prehistoric societies for their rarity and socially used as highly symbolic elements. This work addresses the use and nature of Iberian translucent beads. We present the results of chemical (Raman spectroscopy, portable X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction and visible (Vis)/near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy) and contextual analyses and provide a review of the archaeological literature on the manufacture and use of translucent items during Iberian Late Prehistory. A total of 54 translucent beads from 47 sites, primarily burials, were analyzed; 33 were made from fluorite, while the remaining 21 were made of diverse translucent minerals (calcite, quartz and different silicates). The scarcity of translucent items in the archaeological record, the regional and supraregional scale of its exchange, and its recursive association to other valuables in singular contexts reinforces the idea that their owners/wearers enjoyed a high status.
- Las producciones de adorno personal en rocas verdes del SW Peninsular : los casos de Leceia, Moita da Ladra y Penha VerdePublication . Odriozola, Carlos; Villalobos García, Rodrigo; Boaventura, Rui; Sousa, Ana Catarina; Martínez-Blanes, J.M.; Cardoso, João Luís